Synthesis and characterization of N-doped ceramics nanoparticles

COLL 287

Changjie Mao, cxm197@case.edu1, Xiaofeng Qiu, xxq7@cwru.edu1, Yixin Zhao1, Clemens Burda, burda@case.edu1, and Jun-Jie Zhu, jjzhu@netra.nju.edu.cn2. (1) Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euelid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106, (2) School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, 210093, China
We have developed a novel synthesis route for different nitrogen dopant concentration in ceramics nanoparticles. A series of N-doped ceramics nanoparticles (CeO2, WO3, and V2O5) have been prepared by the direct amination of precursors. The crystal phase, particles size and degree of nitrogen incorporation have been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

The high relative photocatalytic activity of these N-doped ceramics nanoparticles were evaluated by photodecomposition of methylene blue under the irradiation of a standard UV-vis light source. The ease and degree of substitutional-insertional nitrogen doping is held accountable for the significant increase in photocatalytic activity in these N-doped ceramics nanoparticles versus pure nanoparticles. It is suggested that the nitrogen incorporation produces an NO bonding region as evidenced by the resulting XPS spectrum. We also find that the band gap energies of these materials are of great importance to their photocatalytic performance.